Envelope savings bank



Filed Aug. 12, 1935 I II I IIIWL ATT DR NEY Patented July 6, 1937znsezai rarest orries ENVELOPE SAVINGS BANK Richard A. Harris, Syracuse,N. Y.

Application August 12, 1935, Serial No. 35,759

3 Claims.

My invention relates, in general, to savings banks and more especiallyto coin receptacles made of paper or similar material.

Savings envelopes made of paper are in wide use by all types of savingsinstitutions, religious organizations, credit merchandisers, and otherinstitutions in an effort to encourage people to accumulate a large sumof money by small deposits of coins in the savings envelope orcoinreceptacle. The usual plan is to supply the depositor, communicant orcustomer with a number of envelopes covering a certain period of timeand have him deposit coins in the envelope at frequent intervals and,when a reasonably large sum has been accumulated, take it to the bank,church or credit merchandiser for deposit, ofiering or payment onaccount.

Ordinarily, sealed paper or light cardboard envelopes having a coin slotare used for the purposes outlined above instead of metal banks becausethey can be made at a nominal cost. The disadvantage of such savingsenvelopes lies in the fact that the user will deposit in the envelope acertain sum in, say, nickels and dimes, and then have occasion to usethe change and by employing a knife or other instrument may easily slipthe coins out of the coin slot. It has been found in practice that if itcan be made impossible, or at least very difficult, for the user toretrieve the coins by shaking the envelope or other manipulation he willseldom tear or otherwise mutilate the envelope in order to remove thecoins, probably because the user intends usually to borrow the changeonly temporarily. Whatever the intentions of the user are, when theordinary type of coin envelope is used, he seldom replaces the coins andthe entire plan for accumulating a sum of money is defeated.

An object of my invention is to provide a simple savings bank or savingsenvelope which may be made at a nominal cost.

Another object of my invention is the provision of a savings envelopemade of paper, light cardboard, or similar material, in which provisionis made whereby retrievement of coins once deposited in the envelope ismade exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, without tearing theenvelope apart or otherwise mutilating it.

My invention further contemplates the provision of a savings envelope,preferably made in one piece, having a flap folded over the coin slot insuch a manner that coins once deposited in the envelope cannot beslipped out of the envelope without tearing or cutting the envelope.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be more apparent fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing my sav Figure 5 is a perspectiveview of .a modified form of the construction shown in. Figures 1 to 4.

inclusive. 7

Figure 6 is a View, after the structure of Figure 5 has been folded andpasted together, taken on the line -E of that figure.

Figure '7 is a view illustrating the envelope of Figures 5 and 6 showingthe manner of cutting the envelope from a single sheet of material andindicating the lines upon whichit is'folded.

Figure 8 is a partial outside view of the envelope of Figures 5, 6,'and'7', with portions cut away to show the inside thereof.

The savings bank or savings envelope 'of my invention is preferably cutfrom a single sheet of paper, light cardboard or other suitable materialand has a front wall H, a back wall l2 and an integral flap generallyindicated by the numeral 13. A coin slot M which may be made largeenough to receive a. coin of any size'is provided in the front wall llof the envelope and scoring lines 96 and H are preferably made in thepaper to enable the envelope'to be readily folded into the conditionshown in Figure 1.

The flap I3 is ,preferably narrower than the width of the front wall! Iand is provided with a coinslit I8. The coin'slit l8, while longer thanthe coin slot I4, is narrower than the coin slot so that coins afterpassing through the slit can not again pass through the slit in theopposite direction; The flap I3 is scored along the coin slit l8 asindicated at l9 forming flap sections and 20. The outer end of theflap,constituting end flap section 2!, is preferably decreased slightly inwidth from that of the main body of the flap and is preferably scoredtofacilitate folding as indicated at 22.

After the paper has been cut and scored, as indicated in Figure 4, theflap I3 is folded on the scoring line H, refolded on the scoring line 19and again folded on the scoring line 22. The inner surface of the outeredge of both the front and back of the envelope is provided withadhesive, as indicated by the numeral 23. The internal side of the frontis provided with adhesive, as indicated at 24, for securing the flap tothe front wall. The adhesive line as will be noted is slightly below thecoin slot l4.

After the flap I 3 has been folded into place it is secured to the frontwall, along adhesive line 24. By thus folding and securing the flap tothe front wall, the end section 2| of the flap, as more clearly shown inFigure 2, depends freely between the flap section 26 and the flapsection 29. After the flap has been folded and secured in position theback wall is folded on the scoring line it and secured to the front wallby adhesive 23 thus forming a structure which appears from the outsideas shown in Figure 1.

Although the envelope will, in practice, be substantially fiat, inFigures 2 and 3 Ihave shown the envelope in a slightly exaggeratedcondition in order more clearly to illustrate the manner in which coinsonce deposited in the envelope are locked therein so as to prevent, orat least make inconvenient, their removal without tearing the envelopeapart or cutting it.

The coin is inserted in the coin slot is after which it drops of its ownweight between the end flap section 2! and the flap section 20 andpasses down through the coin slit l8 which, as will be noted, ispreferably made somewhat longer than the coin slot l4. Upon droppingthrough the coin slit I 8 the coin drops down into the main body of theenvelope.

It will now be noted, when the coin is in the bottom of the envelope,that if the envelope is inverted and shaken the coin will pass eitherinto the pocket 2'! formed between the front wall II and the flapsection 20' or into the pocket 28 formed between the back wall I2 andthe flap section 29.

Because the coin slit I8 is merely a narrow cut in the paper it isalmost impossible to shake the coin into the coin slit l8 between theflap sections 20 and 20'. It is therefore almost impossible for the cointo pass upwardly into the space between the flap sections 20 and 26'especially because the flap sections 2|) and 20' are held somewhat closetogether by the front and back walls of the envelope.

If by accident a coin should pass through the coin slit 13 the dependingflap section 2| prevents the coin from passing upwardly so as to enablethe coin to be retrieved through the coin slot 14 because the end flapsection 2| has a tendency to spring away from the flap section 20 andclosely hug the flap section 210. The coin is thus caught in the pocketformed between the flap section 28' and the flap section 2! and uponagain inverting the envelope the coin drops through the coin slit [8into the main body of the envelope. If a knife or other instrument isinserted in the coin slot l4 and through the coin slit IE! it has stillbeen found almost impossible to remove the coin because the user mustspread the coin slit l8 and at the same time guide the coin into theslit entirely by the sense of touch. This operation is almost impossibleespecially because the user is not familiar with the inside constructionof the envelope and the knife obstructs the passage of the coin.

In Figures 5 to 8 inclusive I have illustrated a modified form of theconstruction illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive. As shown in Figure7, the savings envelope comprises a front wall 3?, a back wall 38 and aflap 39. A coin slot M is pro vided in the front wall and between thefront and back walls the material is preferably scored as indicated at42 to enable folding. The front may be secured to the back wall byadhesive, as indicated by the numeral 43.

The flap 39, while preferably integral with the back wall 38 ispreferably separated therefrom by a scoring line M. A coin slit at theouter corner of the flap 39 extends inwardly on a line which issubstantially a diagonal of the flap. Along the line of the coin slit G6the material is preferably scored, as indicated at All, dividing theflap 39 into sections 48 and id. The scoring line 47 and the coin slit65 are not on a true diagonal but instead reach the opposite edge of theflap at a point spaced from the scoring line M, as indicated at 563. Thescoring line 4'! is not made on a true diagonal of the flap in orderthat when the flap is folded into the position shown in Figure 5, byfolding the flap 44 on tothe back wall 38 and folding the flap section49 on to the flap section $8, the edge 5| will terminate at or below thelower edge of the coin slot M, as

indicated by the dotted line 5| of Figure 8. After the flap has beenfolded into the position shown in Figure 5 the front wall of theenvelope is secured to the back wall along the adhesive line 43 andsimultaneously the flap section 49, along the edge 5!, is secured to theinner face of the front wall 31 along the adhesive line 52.

When the savings envelope is in assembled condition and a "coin isinserted in the coin slot 4| it drops between the flap sections 48 and49 and rolls along the diagonal fold formed by these flap sections untilit reaches the coin slit 46 whereupon it drops into the main bodyportion of the envelope. After the coin has dropped into the main bodyportion of the envelope it is almost impossible to retrieve it byinverting the envelope and shaking it because the coin will almostinvariably pass either into the pocket 54 formed between the back wall38 and the flap section 48 or will pass into the pocket 56 formedbetween the front wall 31 and the flap section 59. It is, further,almost impossible to retrieve the coin by inserting a knife through thecoin slot 4| into the coin slit 46 and spreading it particularly becausethe user does not know the construction of the inside of the envelopeand because it is almost impossible to guide the coin into the coin slit46 while the knife is in the necessary path 0 movement of the coin.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided a simplesavings envelope which may be manufactured at a nominal cost and whichaccomplishes the desired object of preventing, or at least makingdifficult, the removal of coins from the envelope after they have beenonce inserted. It will be further apparent that various modificationsand changes may be made in the construction of the envelope and therelationship of the parts thereof without departing from the spirit ofmy invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a savings envelope made of paper or similar material in which theenvelope is entirely sealed except for a coin slot to enable the coin tobe inserted in the envelope, a flap integral with the envelope andextending from one wall thereof, said flap being foldable along a lineextending substantially diagonally of the flap and being secured to theother wall of the envelope to divide the envelope into two parts, saidflap having a coin slit extending along said diagonal folding line.

2. A coin receptacle comprising an envelope having a facing sheet and abacking sheet and being made of paper or similar material, said envelopebeing when folded and adhesively secured together at its edges entirelyclosed except for having a coin slot in the facing sheet thereof, a flapintegral with the envelope and extending from one edge thereof, saidflap being folded along one edge to face upon the inside of the facingsheet and being re-folded below the coin slot and having its re-foldedportion adhesively secured to the inside of the facing sheet below thecoin slot and thereby dividing the envelope into a main body portion andan auxiliary body portion, said flap having a coin slit therein enablinga coin to pass from the auxiliary body portion into the main bodyportion of the envelope.

3. A coin receptacle comprising an envelope having a facing sheet and abacking sheet and being made of paper or similar material, said envelopebeing when folded and adhesively secured together at its edges entirelyclosed except for having a coin slot in the facing sheet thereof, a flapintegral with the envelope'and extending from one edge thereof, saidflap being folded along one edge to faceupon the inside of the facingsheet and being re-folded below the coin slot and having its re-foldedportion adhesiveiy secured to the inside of the facing sheet below thecoin slot and thereby dividing the envelope into a main body portion'andan auxiliary body portion, said flap having a coin slit therein enablinga coin to pass from the aux iliary body portion intothe main bodyportion of the envelope and said flap having a third fold hear anotheredge which when the envelope is in condition for use lies between there-folded portion of the flap and the flap proper.

RICHARD A. HARRIS.

